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Juan C. Sanchez-Arias, MD, PhD
Trained as medical doctor and neuroscientist, I use my expertise in neurobiology, computational biology, and experimental design to magnify the impact of BenchSci’s platform and mission to empower scientists to improve the speed and quality of preclinical research with the most advanced biomedical AI.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience
University of Victoria - Division of Medical Sciences
Victoria, BC, Canada
2020 - 2015
- Dissertation: Pannexin 1 regulates dendritic spine formation.
Doctor of Medicine (Médico y Cirujano)
Universidad del Valle - School of Medicine
Cali, Valle, Colombia
2014 - 2007
- Pre-Diploma Rotatory Internship: Hospital Universitario del Valle ESE ‑ Universidad del Valle. Cali, Valle. Colombia.
- Professional elective: Neurosurgery and Neurocritical Care. Department of Neurosurgery. Hospital Universitario del Valle ESE ‑ Universidad del Valle. Cali, Valle. Colombia.
- Observership: Functional Neurosurgery. Department of Neurosurgery. University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. Chicago, IL. USA.
Industry Experience
Scientific Associate (Experimental Data)
BenchSci
Remote
Current - 2022
- Envision and evaluate features to improve BenchSci’s platform and future roadmap using scientific insights.
- Work in collaboration with Product and Engineering teams to magnify the impact and applications of BenchSci’s platform.
- Work in collaboration with R&D to improve the data processing cycle within BenchSci’s platform.
Research Experience
Postdoctoral Fellow - Michael Smith Health Research BC Awardee
Division of Medical Sciences
University of Victoria
2022 - 2020
- Area of study: Inherited arrhythmias, community genetics, bioinformatics, ion channel biology, calcium homeostasis in cardiomyocytes.
- Roles: Project and data management, research execution, presentation of results, and grant and research writing.
- Techniques: RNA seq and microarray gene expression analysis using R and bioconductor tools (DESeq2, oligo, limma).
- Analysis of protein-protein interaction networks and pathway enrichment analysis using R and Cytoscape.
- Immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy of embryonic and adult mouse heart sections.
Graduate Research Assistant
Division of Medical Sciences
University of Victoria
2020 - 2015
- Area of study: Ion and metabolite channels, developmental neurobiology, channel trafficking, cytoskeletal dynamics, neural stem cells, advanced microscopy.
- Roles: Project and data management, research execution, presentation of results, and grant and research writing.
- Techniques: Fixed and live-cell fluorescence microscopy of cultured neurons. Immunocytochemistry. Super-resolution microscopy.
- Analysis of calcium imaging data from cultured neurons using MATLAB.
Research Medical Intern
Centro de Estudios Cerebrales
Universidad del Valle
2014 - 2013
- Area of study: functional neuroanatomy, cerebral cortex organization, traumatic brain injury, stroke, neuroprotection.
- Roles: Support and execution of experimental research on traumatic brain injury and ischemic stroke in rats.
- Techniques: Immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy of rat brain sections.
Undergraduate Medical Researcher
School of Public Health
Universidad del Valle
2011 - 2010
- Area of study: Cardiovascular risk health, spinal cord injury, rehabilitation medicine, public health.
- Roles: Project management, data management with Epi Info, research execution, grant and research writing, and presentation of results to stakeholders.
- Supported clinical assessment of patients in the spinal cord injury clinic.
Selected presentations
2022
65th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences | An integrative systems biology and experimental approach to study the impact of a novel variant in ANK2 membrane-binding domain associated with cardiac arrhythmias and cardiomyopathy | Poster
2021
COLNE - Tertulia Metodologica | Flujos de Trabajo para Analisis de Imagenes Adquiridas por Microscopia (Bio-image analysis workflows) | Talk
2020
University of British Columbia 2nd Annual Tri‑Cluster Research Day: The Future of Health | Pannexin 1 regulates dendritic protrusion dynamics in developing cortical neurons | Talk
2019
International Gap Junction Conference | Pannexin 1 regulates neuronal networks and dendritic spine formation in cortical neurons | Star Award Talk
2017
BC Regenerative Medicine Symposium | Pannexin 1 regulates cortical dendritic spine formation | Talk
Service & Leadership
Who Can Become a Scientist?
Co-founder and Co-organizer
University of Victoria
Current - 2021
- “Who can become a scientist?” is a workshop for high school students that discusses equity, diversity, and inclusion issues in STEMM.
- It reflects on the stereotypical image of scientists and the importance of leveraging support from role models and mentors to increase diversity in STEMM.
Let’s Talk Science
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC, Canada
2022 - 2018
- Volunteer for public audience presentations and high school science tours.
CIHR Brain Bee
Victoria Chapter
Victoria, BC, Canada
2022 - 2017
- Organize and coordinate social media outlets for the Victoria Brain Bee. Mentored high school students from the Greater Victoria Area who participated in the Brain Bee competition.
- Secured funding to sponsor Victoria Brain Bee winners traveling to the CIHR National Brain Bee.
Neuroscience Graduate Student Association (NGSA)
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC, Canada
2020 - 2017
- Student Representative ‑ Division of Medical Sciences 2017‑2018.
- Contributed to organizing the Neuroscience Graduate Program Kick‑Off. Liaised and recruited keynote speakers for seminar lectures.
Other education
Curso Introductorio en Epidemiologia Genetica y Epigenetica
Universidad del Valle - School of Public Health
Virtual
2022 - 2022
- Two-week introductory course on Genetic Epidemiology and Epigenetics offered by the School of Public Health at Universidad del Valle
CodeinPlace 2021
Stanford University
Virtual
2021 - 2021
- 5-week introductory online Python programming course based on material from the first half of Stanford’s introductory programming course, CS106A.
- Project Showcase #153: BrainBeez